


Raven Reyes: Age 5

by atigerlilyangel



Series: An Undefined Life [1]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Childhood Memories, Flashbacks, Gen, Growing Up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-29
Updated: 2015-11-29
Packaged: 2018-05-04 01:47:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5315663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atigerlilyangel/pseuds/atigerlilyangel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Flashbacks to Raven's childhood and how she saw herself during that time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Raven Reyes: Age 5

**Author's Note:**

> I was rewatching The 100 and I realized that in Raven's story, she really has multiple points where she has to struggle and sort of redefine who she is all over again to herself. So I may write more, for other points in time. And if I do, it may continue beyond what we've seen on the show. And I think maybe less narrative...and more actual scenes of conversation. Anyway, let me know what you think!

When she was a child, she knew who she was.

She was Raven Reyes. Age five. A bastard child.

It was a simple definition, even if a harsh one. But she knew it as fact and refused to let it hurt her. The fact that she knew nothing of her father. That she barely knew anything of the woman she lived with day in and day out: her mother. The fact that the very term implied a certain level of existence in which you were unwanted.

And she knew it was true, as she watched her mother drink her away, drink her father away, day in and day out. As she watched her sleep in puddles of sick. As she watched her rant and rave and throw things at her, calling her useless. The only thing Raven provided her with that she wanted was more credits. More credits that she could trade with Nygel for moonshine.

She was Raven Reyes. Age five. And she was angry and full of hate.

She hated Nygel and she hated moonshine and she hated her father and she hated her mother and she hated the whole damn ship for never noticing anything.

Until someone did.

She was Raven Reyes. Age five. And she lived a borrowed existence.

She dug through trash chutes for things people had thrown out. Food mostly. She thought that she should care about other things. Clothes, toys, crayons. But who could when you were so hungry.

She’d watched him. Her neighbor for a while. And crayons and toys seemed very important for him. Some jerk had stolen his red. And she had looked for weeks for one, because she wanted his apple. He had one every day when he sat outside coloring. And she had imagined it to be such a luxury. She went over to him and watched him. A simple hey starting the conversation.

“I’m making this for mom’s birthday,” he told her. She had laughed. She only knew when her birthday was because she had snuck into the files and read it herself, a birth certificate. She had no idea when her mother’s was and she didn’t care. She just eyed his apple.

He noticed. “You want it?” he asked. She nodded and snatched it up before he could change his mind and devoured it in record time. She thought she should give him the crayon anyway. But the voice in her head told her to save it, for later. Have something to bargain with when he wasn’t feeling so generous.

But his generosity never quit.

She was Raven Reyes. Age five. And she was a little bird who could strike a bargain.

She hated Nygel. More than words could express. But Nygel still provided. If the price was right. Provided her mother moonshine, and the little bird food.

The first time she met Nygel she had stared at the large imposing woman with wide eyes. She had come to bring her mother moonshine and Raven had definitely told her how unwelcome she was with a simple. “I’m hungry.”

To which the older woman had laughed. “Come see me, little bird. I’ll give you something good to eat.”

But Nygel wanted illegal parts, precious gems, materials, artifacts of life before. She had to stop simply searching trash chutes and she had to start observing people. Where they lived. Their habits, their patterns. She had to learn to take from them without being seen. So the little bird had learned to fly. To use the air ducts for traveling.

She was Raven Reyes. Age five. And she was extremely intelligent.

She had learned how to hack her way into rooms she didn’t belong in. She knew how to read blueprints of the entire ship. She knew what paths were safe and which were not. She knew good people from bad people. And she knew she knew mostly bad people. But she couldn’t change who she was. She could only be her, and use the resources she’d been provided. Which wasn’t much, in material means.

But she had plenty of other resources. She was smart and quick witted. She was strong. She was tough. She was determined. And tenacious. She didn’t know the meaning of giving up.

And those were possibly the best resources she could think of.

She was Raven Reyes. Age five. And she was very self-reliant.


End file.
